Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Today we’re talking about employer branding with a veteran in the space representing one of America’s largest tech companies Packard Enterprise. Let’s give a warm welcome to Rachel Duran head of global employer brand and recruitment marketing. Thanks for joining us Rachel. So good to have you

Rachel Duran (Guest): Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): We’re excited to have you and we have a little bit more. We want to share about Rachel Duran (Guest) is a seasoned and Innovative Brandon recruitment marketing leader with over a decade of Diversified experience and dozens of Industry accolades. Currently Rachel is the head of a Global Employment brand and recruitment marketing at Hewlett Packard Enterprise where she leads an integrated team of House agency and RPO marketers to HPE’s employer value proposition through strategic campaigns and candidate experience excellence. So very impressive we are so thrilled to have you and we wanted to start off and here a little bit about what you were up to before being in the employer branding space.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Sure, and what’s an interesting story because I’ve only been an employer branding for 10 years. So obviously that’s not the entirety of my career and it does feel kind of funny being referred to as a veteran of employment branding but that was just 10 years, but that’s because it’s just such a new thing to be in table states with many large organizations. So I feel like I’ve kind of grown up if you will in space. So before I was an employer branding I actually was in retail management for many years about the same time that I’ve been in employer brain now, after high school. I just went right into the workforce. And so that’s kind of how I worked it in Nordstrom. I wanted to be in fashion and kind of moved up into management. There was a department manager and then was a store manager for a couple different Fashion retail outlets the typical stores that you would walk by when you’re in the mall and I learned

Rachel Duran (Guest): A lot about recruiting so I didn’t have that recruiter background, but you have to recruit all of your own assistant managers and employees, and so I learned a lot about how to attract talents I think first in retail and then even more so about company culture whenever I was a store manager at Starbucks and how we implemented that internally and kind of built out an employer Brands without that being the terminology that was used to describe it. So I learned a lot from that space even though it seems like it’s very very different and just didn’t realize at the time how much I would bring over with me. So while I was at Starbucks and learning a lot about coffee, I ended up going to an independent coffee shop and managing their social media. So this is right when social media was first a big thing for marketing. We’re talking about 2010 and learned a lot there. And so when the recession happened I decided to go back to school and to get my college degree and decided to go into marketing and figure

Rachel Duran (Guest): Out what I could learn to be social media marketing sell more professional and kind of got my chots in with internships at an advertising agency and things like that. So that’s kind of how I took the pathway down to eventually being in the employer brand space of advertising and marketing and just didn’t want to leave after that. I absolutely love this space and have been here 10 years since

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s such a cool story. And I think it’s important to point out that social media really did change what employer branding looks like and you found a way to adapt to that and…

Rachel Duran (Guest): we

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): to make it your own and I noticed you said employer value proposition and not employee value proposition and tell us what you feel the difference of why you phrased it that way.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Sure, and I’ll start by saying I don’t want to get into any big arguments who’s my peers about my answer here because I think it’s one of those things that everybody has their own opinion about. And I think everybody makes really great points. So it’s just my preference and I think it really comes back to my experience in the advertising agency side of it. And I think that’s because when I was in the advertising side, I heard a lot of the customer value proposition as well, but I really heard the brand value proposition a lot and that’s what the work that we did to build that brand promise was to the customers. And so when I hear employee value propositions, I think there’s a focus on the employee and that’s what the intent is. However, I feel like it’s kind of implying that they are proposing their value to the employer that it’s their value that they’re proposing and I think

Rachel Duran (Guest): That happens in their interview and their application and they already kind of know that piece right? We can’t define that for them. And so that’s why I prefer the employer value proposition because I feel like it’s putting the onus on the employer. It’s saying this is what we are proposing as a value to you as your potential employer and what we promise to you as a brand as your current employer what she will join and the other reason that is very specific to HPE is that we don’t say employees internally. We really do say team members right? Because we don’t get into the legal definition of employees. So it was also kind of a push to make sure that we were clear about that when we were discussing it internally and…

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Kind of avoiding the moniker of employee because then we would get really stuck on that and saying whether we need to call it team member value proposition and so just for clarity within that brand value system at HPE that’s why we decided Just go with the employer value proposition. But yeah, I think it’s Either way. It just really depends on your company and the goals and how you want it to be perceived.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah, I think that makes sense because it’s really like what you’re offering those who want to come work for you and I think having that perspective and you mentioned how you did a lot of recruitment for Nordstrom and Starbucks and not just getting people to be attracted to your company, but getting the right people to be attracted to what you are offering.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Right exactly.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And honestly, I have to say Rachel. I think you’re converting me from taking on the proposition terminology to the employer value problem. So offending is happening over here. I love it. And I think the way that you’ve defended that approach is so logical and it makes so much sense and honestly, yeah the way that you contrast that with the employee being in an interview saying here’s my employee value proposition. Here’s what I can give to you as an employer why you should hire me and the exact opposite of the

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Employer saying here’s why you should hire us in a sense and why we can be a part of your career and how there can be a level up a value add to you and your individual goals. I think that’s amazing. So Rachel, HPE is just about to launch their new employer value proposition. Tell us a little bit about it. What does it represent? to employees

Rachel Duran (Guest): So this is such a labor of love of mine. I’m so excited to launch this because there’s so much work behind it. I just joined HPE and this time last year. So I have just been here for a year, which is very exciting. When I first joined there was interest to really kind of level up where we were from an employer brand and recruitment marketing perspective. They were doing a great job and it was just kind of like where can we go from here? How can we innovate and EVP was top of mind and for our Global Leadership team within recruiting? So this was also a key priority across the talent organization, So even outside of recruiting and talent acquisition specifically, this was a key priority before I came in. So one thing that they had done was gone ahead and organized what that might look like.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Gathering information for making sure that our EVP really reflected HPE and the way that not only we needed it to but also in a way that our current team members really identified with and would feel comfortable, advocating for and sharing within their own networks because we don’t want to ever have an EVP that says one thing and then when you join the company it’s a completely different situation, So we wanted to get specific and really hone in our differentiators. And that was one key thing that I wanted to bring in as I joined the organization was making sure that we’re really really focused on not just the things that we do right but really honing in on what is the value proposition that we have that really differentiates us from other similar employees in the market other employers that our candidates might be looking at or have thought of working with before or have

Rachel Duran (Guest): in the past and they would therefore compare it. So we were already putting together workshops. One of the first things that I did when I HPE was joining the workshop at our Houston headquarters and getting to hear firsthand from such an array of team members from different job levels at departments and business units regions even so we had some people calling in from different countries. We even had a very late night in the US call.

Rachel Duran (Guest): To make sure that we could get a lot of great feedback from our APAC team members and a time zone that made sense for them as well. And so it was a really great learning for me because I got to learn a lot about the organization right off that but also it really helped me understand and listen to partnering, with my team and the larger Talent organization and also the agency that we had brought in to work with us to help build some of this messaging out and one thing that really stood out over and over and over again with all of the diversity of the team members that we spoke with was their ability to build a really interesting career at HPE we heard stories over and over again from team members who their job didn’t even exist. It didn’t even have a definition when they first join the organization and now here they were leading, a strategy for it and I personally of course

Rachel Duran (Guest): Provide with that being an employer brand because that was a role that didn’t exist 10 years ago in most companies. And so we really decided that was a great place to start for a differentiation because one thing that I’ve noticed, through the years of research and hasn’t changed much but when we talk about before covid and after covid and how workplace expectations have changed one thing that really hasn’t is that in tech people move around a lot and it’s kind of like, what is the value right now?

Rachel Duran (Guest): And you don’t hear a lot about people staying for 20 and 30 years at tech companies since the 2000s and that was  the thing that really stood out to me at HPE was hearing all of these stories from people who’ve been here for so long. And so we really honed in on that to create the campaign called redefine what’s next for you. And the way that we came up with that kind of solidified tagline was really to tie into the culture internally and also our promise to our customers and how we tie that together. So HPE’s purpose is advancing the way people live and work and one of our core values is accelerating what’s next really tying in that Innovation piece and how we’re advancing what that looks like and we’re the first, in the Forefront to bring these incredible products and services to the market and kind of tying that into care

Rachel Duran (Guest): Both and the stories that we told and really honing in on the importance of the employees being the ones to tell those stories Not just having a tagline not just having some fun pictures of people at work, but really digging into these individual stories and highlighting them. redefine what’s next for you focuses on each individual team members who stepped up and volunteered to tell their story and how to really interesting story to tell it really focuses on their story and Calls that candidate or potential job candidate and to put themselves in their shoes and be able to see themselves in that role and that location, with that similar career story and seeing how they’ll be able to redefine what’s next for themselves within their career as well.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s amazing. Thinking I didn’t have a degree in marketing as well. And so when I hear you talk about this, Initiative in this way and you talk about the differentiators a term that I learned and everybody who’s had some marketing background will relate to this but you got points of parity the things that you need to check off that everybody else has and the points of difference those things that set your offering apart and that 100% is Employer branding I’m curious just to dig a little bit deeper on this Rachel. What would you say are some of those points of parity those things that top job Seekers are looking for in HPE that most other large employers have and what are those Flagship differentiators that HPE is really proud of

Rachel Duran (Guest): Yeah, that’s a great question. because I think when we look at the marketplace overall and keep in mind a lot of my experience is very specific to the tech industry. I’ve dabbled and in other places when I’ve been on the agency side as well, but really specifically in tech one thing that I’ve noticed in the data and the research over and over and over again is the desire for top talent within this industry to be able to build a career and that Career Development piece and it’s interesting because I think that a lot of the data and reports that we look at really focus in on these generational differences where they say. gen Z is looking at this Millennials are looking for this and if you really look at it we talk about that middle we’re in the middle space of your career that’s when employees are looking at

Rachel Duran (Guest): It’s their career growth a lot. And that’s the most important thing to them. But if you really look at it and you look at the other age groups that are in these data and the reports. It’s really just a sliver of difference. I mean almost within the margin of error when we talk about surveys. It really is just across the board when you really dig into it. I think everybody’s looking for that opportunity for career growth, even if they don’t get a

Rachel Duran (Guest): Motion within that company they’re looking at something to accelerate their career to the next level on average. And so we really wanted to make sure we were able to connect those stories to tangible things. Not just people’s stories and say it worked for me so it can work for you and…

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): One, yeah.

Rachel Duran (Guest): But really identifying. What is that offering? Why is it so different? So I think the culture is storytelling but more firmly and really the industry leading training and development. So when we talk about not just our LMS systems, but all of the great work that our Learning and Development team does to make sure that internal career Mobility is improving and on point and above industry average at every turn is the key differentiator and then also the development opportunities through on the job training and so social learning experiences. That is something that I’ve even noticed with my own experiences a huge differentiator at

Rachel Duran (Guest): We have a great internal Mobility piece within our hris systems where we have a career Hub that suggests new jobs as they open up internally for you that might match your skills and career pathing and then also gigs that’s a really cool differentiator for us too anytime. We have a project where we don’t need a whole full person, but we may be able to benefit from someone’s skills and experience.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Chances in their role and they’re looking to meet new stakeholders within the organization and build out their networking and in seeing what other people are doing and other organizations that they may want to transfer to later. So it really brings us all together to give that opportunity for meeting new people and working on their projects. So that’s really interesting and fun. And then also just the piece about really talking about the work that fits your life and the level of extreme flexibility that we have with our life balance at HPE and how that can determine quite a bit in your ability to be successful in your career development.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): You did the research and it sounds like exactly what you’ve been implementing what you’ve been working on and what HPE is about to launch is answering what the data says, right and that is going to hopefully attract the right people and pointing that out, the culture profit.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Yeah, sure.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Yeah, that’s such a good question because I think that it’s something that as stresses marketers out it any kind of marketer out, but it’s specially as an employer brander, right because it’s not really tied into a revenue and Stream So, we really have to think about what is the value that we are adding as far as opportunity costs and bridging that Gap which I think can be a little bit more apparent when we’re talking about recruiting the best talent and obviously that has an avalanche of great results when we have the best talent and we’re able to attract them to joining our organization, but also just kind of controlling costs right at the end of the day we’re partnering with Recruitment and that’s part of talent and that really is and a cost center what it comes down to it. if you want to hear the harshest terms from your Finance partners. And so I think that it really is talking about what is that breadcrumb trail to produce the value when it comes to you being a cost center and

Rachel Duran (Guest): Asking for this additional piece of support from a marketing standpoint. So really what it comes down to for HPE is a Powerhouse in the market.

Rachel Duran (Guest): That’s just objectively true. But awareness of HPE as an employer was definitely an opportunity that was a gap that needed to be filled and it’s for a couple of reasons right anytime you’re in a B2B model and you have a lot of people in that space who are your customers who are fully aware of your brand but that doesn’t necessarily overlap and the Venn diagram of customers to potential candidates.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Yeah.

Rachel Duran (Guest): It can be quite a different Target and audience for that type of branding and marketing opportunity. The other thing that’s unique to us is healing Packard Enterprise of course used to be part of the larger HPE organization and although it’s been many years since it splits and HPE became its own separate entity that continues to be a challenge when we’re speaking to candidates to clearly Define the difference between the two organizations.

Rachel Duran (Guest): And what we do and what the opportunities and benefits are and one thing that’s very interesting is once we get people in for an interview at HPE and we’re able to share that value with the candidate and we have a really good success rate for converting that into an offer and so that was presented to me when I first started that’s not the issue right is that top of funnel awareness? We need to ensure that top talent is exposed to our employer Brands and our EVP messaging before they even apply or have that initial conversation with our recruiters because that was the gap that needed to be filled. How do we get the interest…

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Wow.

Rachel Duran (Guest): how do we get them to even apply and understand what the organization does so with having the strong EVP in the talent Market, we’re gonna be able to substantially reduce cost of higher and time to fill by helping our sources and our overall Talent attraction team and our recruiters move that top of the funnel piece a little bit faster. Able to navigate some of that education piece with the candidate a little bit quicker and be able to really help them meet their sla’s. They’re a support standard. But also we’re really hoping and I’ve seen this in my past in my career over and over again to aid in the retention of our current team members. Of course, we have a great employee experience our member experience team, that helps with a lot of that piece as well, but always like helping people to be proud of the work that

Rachel Duran (Guest): They do and have external content that’s specific to you themselves or their team members in the work that they’re doing out there that they can share in their social media that always helps, support that retention and that Pride for team members. So those are some of the ways that you can truly affect the bottom line and the profitability of your organization through a strong EVP and employer brand strategy.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): And that’s incredible and such a thorough encapsulation of the value proposition. You are bringing to Packard Enterprise with these initiatives. I think that’s amazing. So kind of to recap some of those things for our listeners, like we’re reducing costs by ensuring that there’s lower turnover. We’re increasing the time to hire increasing the quality of applications applicants because they’re more familiar with the employer value proposition before they’re even interviewing. One thing I would add to this is there’s a spillover effect to other stakeholder groups. For example, you’re presenting the entire employer brand value proposition primarily to job seekers, but you’re letting the employees be the storytellers. You’re putting them on a pedestal to tell their own lived experiences. So you’re increasing the engagement of that stakeholder group.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): So now we’ve got Tuesday holder groups the job Seekers the employees but I’ve also seen it spillover in effect customers as well.

Rachel Duran (Guest): All right.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): These customers are searching especially in this B2B space where HPE is operating and there’s significant contracts in place that they want to be sure they’re partnering with the obvious choice and seeing that employees love working here. They’re a great score on sites like Glassdoor and indeed comparably in her site and employees are telling their stories about how satisfied they are. That’s one added advantage to secure new business on the revenue growth side. So in my opinion in employer branding is absolutely essential in today’s Marketplace and Rachel it’s so exciting to see what you’re doing. I’m pumped to see more of this new initiative come to fruition via being announced publicly. And so thanks for sharing that any thoughts any other thoughts Rachel and

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): Any final advice for those looking to create?

Rachel Duran (Guest): So,…

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): an employer value proposition

Rachel Duran (Guest): Yeah, I have a lot of advice and first is to develop a solid return on investment statement, talk about that Roi that will probably be one of your biggest hurdles to get over and I say that not specific to you the EVP. I just want just all of the EVPs that I’ve launched or make sure that you establish your goals. That’s really really important. So just to give an example of our goals for EVP is to attract top talent, facilitate member engagement, highlight diversity and inclusion not as a subject section of the strategy just woven throughout by telling those stories really making sure you have that rotation of representation. And then of course industry leadership for all of the reasons, we just discussed the numbers. I think it’s really important to say these are what our goals are and attach those ROI metrics to it.

Rachel Duran (Guest): That way I think that it’s really important also to partner with your brand and marketing team if you’re an employer brand, but you’re in the recruitment team or the talent acquisition team at your organization. You’re a little bit further removed from your marketing and brand team. Your partners make sure that you’re really taking in their advice and building those relationships early on and so that you can get that partnership built. I could never have done this.

Rachel Duran (Guest): The work of our incredible Brands team and marketing team. They’ve been a huge help to all of the beautiful assets that you’ll see coming out with this campaign. I would have never been able to create that without them and then involving your actual employees from beginning to end to get them in a workshop. Make sure you understand it from every job type every region, different ages different backgrounds when you think about a diversity and inclusion lens how long they’ve been there and make sure you’re talking to them from beginning to end and engaging them and not only telling their stories but also sharing those stories for themselves and their co-workers as that project comes out and that will help with employee referrals as well as retention. So giving them them that solid language about what it’s like to work at your organization and having them and kind of be your little mini recruiters out there right and be able to have that elevator pitch about why they work for

Rachel Duran (Guest): And what is a great place or what is a great reason for someone to want to work at your organization? So that’s probably my top three tips for trying to get started with building out a new EVP.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): That’s amazing advice for listeners. And so write that all down everyone is listening and we’ll have it in the Highlight articles. Yeah We’ll have it written down for you. But thank you man so much experience to draw from and I love the diverse experience that brought you to where you are today with HPE and so Excited to see the effect that the launch has for HPE and their success and thank you so much for being here with us today.

Rachel Duran (Guest): Yeah, thank you so much. I really enjoyed chatting with you today.

Matt & Crista Vance (Hosts): We did too. Absolutely pleased Rachel. Thank you and to our listeners, be sure to subscribe, don’t miss any future episodes, leave a review on Spotify Apple podcasts and follow us on LinkedIn and tiktok. We appreciate you being here with us. Have a good one.